Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Rolled Ribbon Roses and Valentine's Day Ribbon Rose Hearts

Rolled ribbon (or fabric strip) roses are fast, cute, and a sweet way to add a little personal flair to your Valentine's Day (or Mother's Day, Wedding, etc) presents. Use a single bloom or combine them into a mini-heart arrangement for added whimsy. Pop a brooch pin (hair barrette, bookmark clip, magnet...) on the back so that your decorations can do double duty as part of the present.

To make a basic rolled/folded ribbon rose:

Choose your ribbon materials.

Cut your ribbon to length. The length needed depends on how big you would like your final roses to be. The wider/thicker your ribbon, the larger the petals will seem in the finished flower and you will "fatten up" faster than with a thinner ribbon. Very thin ribbons, like chiffon, take a much longer length of ribbon to achieve the same size flower as fabric or a thick satin ribbon.

If your ribbon is prone to fraying, you can carefully seal the ends with a lighter (synthetics) or fray stop. This is optional and you can always tidy-up the ends after completion if/as needed.

Tie a knot at one end of the ribbon. Some folks like to fold a center, but I prefer a knot - its easy, gives me a nice firm center to build on, and keeps the starting ribbon end on the bottom for later trim and cover.

Twist/fold the ribbon away from you, and then wrap/roll it around the center. This is what creates the illusion of petals as you build the rose. The tighter the twist, the flatter the flower, the tighter the roll, the tighter the rosebud. All to personal taste!

I recommend practicing a few times with a length of ribbon to get the feel for the motion, restarting if/as needed. It can be a little confusing at first, but suddenly it starts to feel second nature and the rose starts to take shape. Once you're comfortable, THEN start making your flowers in earnest, securing as you go.

Repeat the twist-and-roll motion, periodically securing as you go. I use a little dab of low-temp hot glue hidden behind the roll, but you can stitch if you prefer. If using glue, watch your fingers as low-temp is still hot!

When you are near the end of the ribbon or have reached your target size, fold the ribbon towards the bottom of the rose and secure it in place. Trim the ends if/as needed.

You can finish off the bottom of your rose by gluing on a little circle of felt to hide the ends and pretty things up, and embellish the rose with leaves, rhinestones, etc if you wish. For hearts as shown:

In the same ribbon, similar shades in different ribbon finishes, or complimentary colours (examples of each shown), create four rosebuds: one large, one medium, and two small.

Arrange into a heart shape and pin together temporarily.

Cut a felt heart sized just smaller than your heart shape. If you aren't comfortable free-handing, trace from paper or use a cookie cutter as a convenient template.

Place the heart on a firm flat surface.

If using felt or ribbon leaves, make these now so that you can position them under your flowers during assembly. Attach these now before securing the flowers. Alternatively, wire stemmed leaves can be tucked in later.

Glue the underside of the flowers to the heart, taking care to tuck under any ribbon ends and ensure the roses are positioned tightly together. Take care, low-temp glue is still hot!

Trim your felt if needed.

Attach the rose heart to a brooch pin or other item if/as you wish.

PS: While rose-crafting, we made sometime AWESOME for the dogs too: a rolled rosette dog collar. We will share it at Dalmatian DIY on Friday and I'll update the link here. So cute and a great idea for anyone involving their dog in a wedding celebration! There more more step-by-step photos of the roses being made as well if you need to check out a few more pics for extra visual help or inspiration.

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